Hi again! On this episode, Cathi Bond talks about Satori, a new bit of malware that, like Mirai before it, can take control of internet- connected household devices and routers and harness them for botnets (via Technology Review). Nora Young mentions this Spark interview with Finn Brunton on the black market for botnets.
Meanwhile, Nora talks about this report on how fashion is starting to use the data analytics power of AI in design. The idea is that designers can query things like, for example, "what's emerging as the hot new colour palette?"
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On this podcast, Nora Young talks about insurance company Arity's driver safety project. Drivers put an app on their phone that monitors whether drivers are picking up their phones or engaging with apps while they drive. It's a bid to charge people more or less for insurance, depending on whether they are distracted or not (via CNN). Arity is a branch of insurance giant Allstate. Nora wonders whether this is a harbinger of the future.
Meanwhile, Cathi Bond talks about a cool project from Nissan. In a temporary project, they're placing 'self-parking' slippers at an Inn. The slippers return to their spot by the door - by themselves - thanks to an application of Nissan's ProPilot technology, normally used to help park your car (via PSFK). They had previously used the same technology to move chairs. See more here.
Update: Nora also mentions the Nite Hood sleep mask.
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On this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about a surprising response to the problem of overwork in Japan: drones that chase employees out of the building by blasting annoying music (via New Atlas)
Nora Young talks about this article in Technology Review. It looks at the potential for brain-computer interfaces in the future. A brain surgeon and speculative fiction author believes in a possible future of so-called "neural prosthetics" that would allow us to communicate with our computers, and each other, directly with our brains. Freaky!
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We're back after a little break! This time, Nora Young talks about this New York Times profile of author, Philip Pullman. In particular, she looks at his very specific rituals around writing. Nora and Cathi talk about journaling and their own rituals for writing. Nora's preferred method: pomodoro!
Cathi Bond looks at a study on the benefits of fasting, in particular, 5 days of 'regular' eating a week, and 2 days of extremely limited calorie intake (via New Atlas).
Do you have rituals to get in the mood to work? Have you tried fasting, and if so, have you seen any benefits? Let us know!
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In today's podcast, Cathi Bond talks about PSFK's report on the future of manufacturing and the possibility of more continuous feedback. Could it help reduce waste and increase customization?
Nora Young looks at the interactive 'proof of concept' movie Otis (via Engadget). You can watch and interact with Otis for free here.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
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Welcome to season 13 (ack!) of The Sniffer! Thanks for staying subscribed; we really appreciate the support.
On this podcast episode, Nora Young talks about this Technology Review profile of Douglas Eck, who works on creativity and AI at Google's Magenta.
Meanwhile, Cathi Bond discusses Jack Ma's idea that in the future, we'll all work a 16 hour work week (via Gizmodo).
What would you do if your working life was 16 hours per week?
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This time, Cathi Bond talks about a study testing the effectiveness of different virtual reality scenarios in managing pain. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a virtual reality scene at a calming beach was much more effective in pain relief, than one that was simply a distracting urban scene (via Medgadget)